Shockwaves
by Lamby
Summary: It's never easy, learning you are a mutant. But when your father is a powerful US Senator pushing hard for the introduction of mutant registration, it can be downright dangerous! AU to X3.
1. 01

**It's never easy, learning you are a mutant. But when your father is a powerful US Senator pushing hard for the introduction of mutant registration, it can be downright dangerous. **  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Eek! Never thought this would happen, I've gone and found an X-Man story NOT based totally around Blaze for once! Strange things happen when you've had too much coffee. Anyway this is set straight after L'Ange de Morte, so about four years after X2. There are also quite a lot of references to Darkest Hearts, as a few characters made brief appearances there, but you shouldn't have to read either prequel to understand it. Enjoy.  
  
Scene 01  
  
"You're not my mother, bitch!" The teenager screamed, slapping the older girl across the face and turning in a stormy pirouette to leave the building.  
  
"Sammy, your Dad is gonna go crazy at me if he finds out I let you go out..." The whinging female complained, but Samantha wasn't listening, had already slammed the expensive door shut behind her. Stupid cow! Who did she think she was trying to take her dead Mom's place? And its not as if she'd last long with Sam's Dad anyway, as soon as a newspaper even mentioned anything bad about the little tramp the senator would dump her so fast...  
  
Pausing by a hall mirror in her elaborate and exquisite home, fifteen year old Samantha Hawley, daughter of Senator Michael Hawley, applied her last coat of blood red lip-gloss and deep black mascara with a practised pout. She was a pretty thing, people kept telling her, with long brown hair cut in the most fashionable style and big green eyes just like her Mom's had been. Her face was longer than it was round, her nose straight but classy, just like she'd asked the surgeon for. There was nothing like getting what you wanted from a man. Tugging at her top she rearranged herself revealingly inside it, spun once frowning at her reflection, and left the building. Time to have some fun!  
  
The bike was waiting, her latest boyfriend Jonnie was nineteen and thoroughly disapproved of by her so often absent father. Like he could do a thing about it. She pulled on her helmet and climbed aboard behind Jonnie without so much as a hello. Well used to his girlfriend's grumpy moods Jonnie revved the bike and sped off down the gravelled drive.  
  
The young adults in the bar greeted Sam like she was one of their own. Her girlfriends kissed her cheeks and exclaimed over her outfit, the males amongst them raising glasses in half-drunken greetings. This was where she belonged, so what if the rest of the world thought she was just a kid, most of her friends were drinking underage too. Stupid American laws, if only she lived in Europe... But the other young people were also the children of America's finest, and the bar owner easily swayed by their parent's cash to let them drink as much as they wanted. When she was here, life was good.  
  
Sam took a cab home, leaving Jonnie dumped and unconscious under a table. She'd thought he was more than he was, with his body piercings and motorbike, but it turned out he was just another lightweight. The night only got worse as she recognised her father's chauffeured estate in the driveway. Tipping the taxi driver as little as was polite and trying to wipe off her lip-gloss with the back of her hand, she braced herself to face the music.  
  
Surprisingly enough her father actually looked pleased to see her. Something had gone well at work then, maybe another step towards mutant registration? Everybody knew mutants weren't helping their own cause at the moment, what with the havoc the so-called Four Horsemen had been causing before they suddenly disappeared. And Senator Hawley was not the man to have on your case if you were up to no good, as Sam well knew. She sidled into the room trying to remain confident.  
  
"Ah, Samantha, so nice that you could join us daughter." There was a malicious edge to her father's voice that made Sam shiver. What were those bits of paper he was brandishing? "I thought you might want to look at these before I sign them."  
  
"What are they?" Sam slurred, regretting that last drink.  
  
"Admission papers for Highbridge Boarding School. You start in a week."  
  
Sam dropped the papers, not believing her ears. Her father's girlfriend sneered cruelly at the teenager, so she'd put him up to this. All those final warnings, all those groundings, Samantha had never thought for a second her Dad would actually go through with his threats to send her away. Showed what she knew... Shaking, Samantha left the room fighting her unavoidable anger. Her fingers trembled frantically; she couldn't grip her bedroom door handle. Settling to shove the door open with a push of her palms, something cracked and splintered. Sam screamed with pain, agony shooting up her arms and into her neck. Terrified she pushed again at the door, this time with her shoulder, and finally the door opened. Michael Hawley arrived seconds after Sam had rammed her door lock home and put his fingers to the cracks in the splintered wood...  
  
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"Senator Kelly? Your ten am appointment is here."  
  
"Well, show her in man." Kelly's voice replied jovially, sighing somewhat as the office door was dutifully opened and the appointment ushered in. Only when the office door was closed again and the aide on the other side of it did Kelly's forced smile relax. In a blink of an eye, it was Mystique who sat in Kelly's large leather swivel chair, leaning back in comfort and crossing her long blue legs in front of her. It was Mystique's many voices that spoke next, a menagerie of lost personalities.  
  
"Well this is a pleasant visitation, Destiny. Please, make yourself at home."  
  
The blind woman known as Destiny did as she was ordered, taking her usual seat across the expanse of desk from Mystique. Her white cane she rested delicately across her lap, unseeing eyes hidden behind sunglasses.  
  
"Was I right?" The prophet did not quibble with niceties. That was one of the reasons Mystique liked her so much. None of Magneto's games with words, just straight down to business.  
  
"I'm still waiting for confirmation." Mystique replied. "Though if you are right, this could mean great things for us..." Her words were cut short by the phone on the desk ringing.  
  
"I am right." Destiny cut in, stopping Mystique's motion to pick up the phone. "And that is your confirmation ringing right now."  
  
Mystique smiled at that, a cold, cruel smile showing her teeth. Picking up the phone she resumed Kelly's voice and mannerisms. That man was becoming too much of a part of her, she shuddered. Time to be bringing this enterprise to a close.  
  
"Mystique." The female on the end of the line had no difficulties in hearing the truth behind Kelly's greetings. Well, that was the reason Mystique had hired her. "Your information was right. The child is a mutant, I have seen the truth of it."  
  
"Very good, Verity." Mystique crooned. "You have done well."  
  
"Then you have no further need of me? I can leave this detestable mutant- hater?" The young woman on the end of the line shuddered as she thought of what she'd done for Mystique. No, not for the shape-changer, for mutant liberation and an end to human control...  
  
"Not just yet." Mystique cautioned. "I have one more job for you." She clicked a button on the phone and spoke now to Kelly's aide outside the room, again in Kelly's voice. "Send my nephew in please."  
  
Fractionally later, the door opened again and admitted a blond young man. Pyro flicked the lighter in his hand casually, wondering if Mystique would come down hard on him for tormenting the blind woman.  
  
"You may find some blind people are harder to torment than others." Destiny spoke with a smile, making John snap the lighter shut in slight surprise as Mystique grinned.  
  
"What's up?" The former student of Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters asked casually, taking his own perch on the windowsill a fair way from Destiny.  
  
"Well, 'nephew'..." Mystique began.  
  
"Don't call me that." Pyro snapped. "It was your dumb idea so I could get in here to see you easily. I never agreed to it."  
  
"As I was saying," Mystique continued, ignoring the youth's outburst. "I have a job for you. How would you like to help a mutant girl escape her anti-mutant father?"  
  
"I don't know..." Pyro began sceptically. "What's in it for me?"  
  
"What he means is," Destiny translated with a smile. "Is she pretty?" 


	2. 02

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Enjoy.  
  
Scene 02  
  
Damn Destiny, Pyro fumed, making him look like an idiot. Who did she think he was, Bobby Drake? The darkness of the night closed in around him, hiding him as he made his way across a large expanse of lawn behind a stunning redbrick house. He hoped Verity had done her work properly, or this would all be turning ugly quicker than you could fry bacon. Not all the windows at the rear of the house were dark, but most were. Quickly he began to count them, looking for the third floor, fifth window to the right... Ah, there it is.  
  
Up in her room, Sam Hawley was sat amidst boxes and packing straw, bags and bubble-wrap. Her last night at home. Tomorrow she'd be shipped off, kicking and screaming to some goody-goody boarding school. But yet, that wasn't the worst of it.  
  
Ever since mutants appeared, she'd been conditioned against them. They were evil, demons of nature, no better than animals, dangerous, cheats and thieves and murderers. There were no exceptions. Her father believed it so absolutely he would not stop until every mutant in America was locked up safely behind bars. Or worse. And he had a great deal of support from ordinary voters, especially since the Kelly desertion.  
  
Sam looked at her hands, lying palm upwards on her lap. Her fingers were trembling, not the slight shiver of cold or shock, but a full-blown tremble that made the bones vibrate so much they hurt. Around her, the last of the packing cases had met with an unfortunate end. Shards of its material had flown about the room, slamming into the walls, coming dangerously close to flying in Sam's own eyes. There was no avoiding it. She was a mutant.  
  
A pebble hitting the window got her attention. The slight tap seemed inordinately loud in the quiet of the house. Sam sat still for a moment, hoping that nobody else had heard it. Not that she really thought they would. That bitch Verity had taken her father out for dinner hours ago, and none of the few servants they had hired were particularly bright anyway. The second pebble hit with a louder tap, the person below was getting impatient. Who could it be? One of her forbidden friends come to say goodbye? Or perhaps even to take her away from this awful fate? Could she dare to hope?  
  
Pyro was annoyed and on his third pebble by the time the window was lifted open. He threw it anyway out of frustration. This was not his idea of fun.  
  
"Hey, watch what you're doing!" The stage whisper was a girl's voice, sounding as irritated as he was. Good. "Who's down there?"  
  
"You don't know me." Now, that's a lame start, Pyro thought. He continued regardless. "But I'm like you. I'm here to help you."  
  
"You're like me?" The brunette leaned out of her window finally, unsmiling and increasingly annoyed. "What are you talking about? Why do you want to help me?"  
  
"Look, just get out here and I'll show you. But this isn't the place, okay?" John snapped. To his surprise the kid did as she was told, ducking back inside the window again. Maybe she was as desperate as Mystique had said she would be. Then again, its never easy being a mutant when your parents are dead against them... Pyro barely had chance to consider the thought of having an anti-mutant senator for a father before Sam was appearing from round the corner. He didn't greet her, but led her back across the lawn and out the way he had got in, under the fence via a scrape in the earth barely big enough for a cat, let alone a human. There was no car waiting, Sabretooth had dropped Pyro off and left. It didn't fit Mystique's plans to make this look too easy.  
  
"Who are you? Where are you taking me?" Sam objected relentlessly. The bag she'd grabbed was heavy, she could only hope it was the right one. Still, at least she'd been all packed up ready for tomorrow anyway. No toothbrush in her overnight bag, but spare clothes, cash... It was almost as if Verity had been organising her for running away, not leaving for school. Still the strange youth didn't answer her questions, didn't even look back to make sure she was following him. Sam finally stopped dead about a hundred metres from the back fence of her Dad's house. It still took Pyro a few moments to realise she wasn't behind him.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked angrily. "Its not safe, or do you want them to realise you're gone before we've got far enough away? If they find you, you'll be packed off to that school your Dad found and trust me, boarding school isn't all its cracked up to be. Especially not for mutants."  
  
"Who's a mutant?" Sam snapped right back, jutting out her chin and clenching her fists and jaw. Her fingers began to hum. "And who are you? How do you know anything about me?"  
  
"Look, I just do." John replied. "I know you're a mutant, aren't you?" Sam dropped her eyes, long eyelashes betraying her shame. "Its not a bad thing. You're so much better than normal people now. That's why they're so afraid of us, because they know they can't compete."  
  
"Us?" Sam wasn't slow to pick up on his meaning. "What's your power?"  
  
In response Pyro reached into his pocket and pulled out his infamous lighter. He almost forgot the girl was stood there watching him as he flicked it open, enchanted by the dancing firelight that sat at the end of his fingers. Like a snake charmer he beckoned it to him, encouraging the fire to grow. Eventually, delicately, a perfectly formed fire-phoenix flew from his hand to disintegrate in the colder air of the sky above. Pyro directed his attention unwillingly back to the girl.  
  
"Cool." In the darkness, he couldn't tell if she really meant it, or whether that slight tremor to her voice was her regretting that she'd left home.  
  
"Not met many mutants before, have you?" Pyro asked with a smirk.  
  
"It wasn't encouraged." Sam agreed, finally submitting to walking away from her father's house, her old life, and not once looking back. This time she walked besides Pyro, not liking the idea of him having any form of control over her. "But that never stopped me doing anything else I wanted to. It's always been more that mutants didn't want to get too friendly with me."  
  
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Pyro muttered, remembering some boring TV broadcast Magneto had made him sit through about one of Senator Hawley's mutant registration act speeches.  
  
"I have met at least one though." Sam offered, trying not to seem ignorant of this youth's people. Her people, she corrected herself, shoving her hands in her coat pockets. "At the Governor's ball in New York about a year ago, the one where there was that shooting?" She glanced at Pyro and saw him nod; he knew the one she was talking about. Mystique had been there too, as Senator Kelly, provoking mutants to stand up for themselves and gather together for the first open battle of Magneto's war. But the mystery shooting had nothing to do with Magneto, and as nobody had been hit, no one was even sure who the real target had been. It came almost as a shock to Pyro that Sam was speaking again. "Can't remember for the life of me what the guy's name was, but he had weird eyes. Perhaps you know him?"  
  
"Weird eyes?" Pyro commented. "That's hardly a mutation. Maybe he was just wearing contacts or something?"  
  
"Yeah, maybe." Sam agreed, if somewhat sarcastically. "If you can get contacts that make the whites of your eyes black, as well as your pupils blood red?"  
  
"Oh." Pyro replied. "Then I should congratulate you, you've met your first X-Man. Next time I see Gambit, I'll give him a few lumps from you, okay?"  
  
"Gambit huh? Weird. Do all mutants have daft names? What's yours? And what's an X-Man?" 


	3. 03

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Enjoy.  
  
Scene 03  
  
"What do you mean, you still can't find her?" Senator Hawley screamed down the phone in his office. He'd been at home for as long as he could bare, but everywhere he went just reminded him of how he'd failed his daughter. Oh, they'd had their disagreements, but she'd really never run away before. And certainly not been gone for over a week without getting in touch. "I though you were the police! It's your damn job, so go do it!" He slammed the phone down hard, not caring that he might have broken it.  
  
"Bad time?" A familiar foe spoke from the office doorway, the traitor Kelly come to spout some more mutant loving babble no doubt.  
  
"Always when you're concerned, Kelly." Hawley answered gruffly, being a gruff man generally. Kelly nodded, smiled, and came in to the room anyway. He sat down opposite Hawley's desk and pulled a heavy black briefcase onto his lap.  
  
"Oh, I think you'll make time for this." Kelly oozed. "You see; I have information here about your daughter."  
  
Mystique's statement had the desired effect. Hawley gaped like a fish, mouthing random questions without making a sound, before finally shutting his cavernous maw and indicating that Kelly continue. The briefcase latches clicked open under Mystique's fingers, security photographs falling into her hands to be spread on the desk.  
  
"I think you will find here what the police have so far missed since Sammy's disappearance. A security camera in the train station nearest your home took these on the night Samantha ran away. You'll note she's not alone, but neither is she under duress."  
  
Hawley took the black and white photographs in trembling fingers, so relieved to have at least this small glimpse of his daughter safe and well. Was she even smiling slightly? He didn't recognise the lad, but he could easily be Sammy's newest boyfriend, seeing how much older than her he was. Hawley forced himself to smile, she was okay, and nothing fazed his Samantha.  
  
"I don't know how you got hold of these, Kelly, but," Hawley paused for a moment, not quite sure of himself around these unfamiliar words. "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me I need to alert the police."  
  
"Oh I don't think that's such a good idea." Kelly replied, beaming his irritating smile as he pulled one particular photograph out of the briefcase. Hawley sat to attention, scowling now as he realised something was gravely amiss. Kelly handed him the photograph with a flourish as Hawley dropped the rest on the tabletop. In this photograph, Samantha was laughing as Pyro exploited his powers, melting a waste bin as they waited on the platform for the train. "How long has your daughter been associating with mutants?"  
  
Hawley gulped. He wiped the sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand. Then he met Kelly's eyes and asked the only question he could think of.  
  
"How much do you know?"  
  
"More than you could ever dream of." Kelly replied mystically.  
  
"You'll expose my child as a mutant, as being friends with their kind? To what end? To discredit me with my supporters and force the end of my career?"  
  
"Why, so that your supporters can produce a clone of you to further encourage the passing of this ridiculous mutant registration act, an act that would now affect your very own daughter?" Kelly/Mystique phrased the words carefully. Blackmail was such a delicate business. "I think not. However, I'm sure we can come to some agreement over certain aspects of your newest mutant registration bill? In return for your daughter's continued safety and anonymity."  
  
Hawley knew then he had no choice. He'd do exactly as Kelly said; because there was no other way he might get his daughter back. Unless...  
  
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"Where are we Pyro?" Sam asked, shivering with cold, tired and grumpy and bored. They'd just got off a bus, the last bus, he'd promised her. But now they were stuck in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilisation and as far as Sam knew, completely lost. A week, and they'd travelled more than she'd ever done on public transport in her life. It had not been a pleasant experience. And John was irritating the hell out of her.  
  
"At the pick up point." Pyro replied grouchily. This kid was a nightmare, so full of herself. And did she have to spend so much time preening? She'd have no hair left by the time she was twenty he was sure. Mostly because he would have scorched it off long before then if she didn't learn to keep her whining mouth shut. He hoped that Mystique had no intention of keeping the girl past her use as a hostage, or he might just have to find a new career.  
  
"Pick up by who? More mutants?" Sam replied, stoically folding her arms and refusing to follow him down the empty road. Then, as he refused to answer or come back for her, she trotted on after him with her arms still folded. "Pyro, answer me." She grabbed his shoulder, intending to make him spin and face her for once. Her fingers made contact with him treacherously, instantly beginning to vibrate hard as she brushed the edge of his collar. He screamed and fell to his knees. "Pyro!" Sam yelled, pulling evil hands away and refusing to acknowledge the thought that she might have killed him. "Pyro, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to it just..."  
  
He wasn't listening, trying too hard to breath, to not yell out again as he put his fingers to the bruises rapidly appearing on his neck. He couldn't move the arm on that side, everything hurt; she'd fractured his collarbone with a touch? Swallowing bile he tried to see if Sam was still there. He needed medical attention, needed help... He didn't have to try and turn his head, he could hear her footsteps pounding the road behind him as she ran away too ashamed of what she had done. Great, he'd lost the girl, and now Mystique was probably going to kill him...  
  
Sam ran. She didn't have a choice; she knew Pyro had powerful mutant allies and that turning your powers on another mutant was deemed the highest act of treason amongst them. She was a good listener and she'd had a good few days to take note of Pyro's stories about the brotherhood of mutants. She'd even thought there might be a place for her as part of it, but now she'd gone and hurt her only ticket in. She could only hope that his friends wouldn't be too long in arriving to pick him up.  
  
She ran until she was too tired to run anymore and then she walked. At each road junction she took the better-used highway. Lets face it; she just wasn't a country girl. And when the neon lights of a bar sign lit up the night ahead of her, she knew she'd found her way home... 


	4. 04

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Enjoy.  
  
Scene 04  
  
She only realised her mistake when she pushed the door of the bar open and stepped inside. Briefly the brighter light and smoky atmosphere confused her, blinded her. As her vision cleared and she walked towards the bar, she realised just how sheltered her life had been. She had never been leered at so cruelly, had her worth weighed up so cheaply, been so afraid as she was of the man who pushed past her on his way out. He spun slightly as he knocked into her shoulder, his vocal growl baring sharp and savage teeth, and his scraggy blond hair more like fur than anything as he towered over her. There could be no doubt he was a mutant, but it wasn't the sort of kinship Sam would have liked to claim as she averted her eyes and let Sabretooth leave. Seconds after the door closed behind him, she wished she had stopped him. There were no more mutants in the bar. Only the worse sort of men.  
  
"You gonna let me buy you a drink, pretty?" One old man leered, showing a mouth derived of teeth and winking his one remaining eye. Somehow she stuttered that she was fine, thanks.  
  
"Don't hassle the kid, Mike." Another man, much bigger than the first speaker and toying absently with his shiny black handgun, addressed the entire room. "A pretty thing like that is only gonna wanna talk to Handrick." Around the bar there was general agreement, as to Sam it became clear that the armed man was Handrick himself.  
  
"I'm fine, thank you." Sam answered quickly, hoping her nerves weren't betrayed in her voice. "I just need to use your phone." She addressed the barman, but didn't get a reply.  
  
"I don't think you understand, kid." Handrick spoke again. "You're gonna come have a drink with me, and then we'll decide if we're gonna let you use the phone or not, see?" He reached out towards her with a cold, grasping hand and Sam felt a shudder run through her. He barely touched her wrist before he shrieked. Seizing her moment, Sam grabbed the man's wrist in her hand and held on hard. He shuddered as his eyes budged and a sickening succession of snaps filed the air. No one else in the bar moved for about two seconds, then they were on her, twenty or so fully grown and well- muscled yobs versus one scrawny fifteen year old.  
  
Not one of them could lay a hand on her. If they did, the pain that raced through them made them scream like girls and drop to their knees, holding fractured limbs in shock. She broke for the door, enjoying the slam of it closed behind her as much as the fresh air on her sweaty face. She tried hard to ignore the screams and mutters of revenge from inside the bar, but they still haunted her steps as she turned and ran once more.  
  
She hid all day, cold and hungry but to afraid to make herself known on the rare occasion a human voice sounded near her hiding place. That night she walked again, not quite knowing where she was going, too dazed and afraid to care. Dawn wasn't far away when she heard the car behind her. She was worldly-wise enough to know it was following her, headlights in the gutters as buildings began to close in around her again. The engine was barely turning over, and as she looked back the passenger was talking swiftly into a mobile phone. The driver flashed his lights at her once, and waved his hand at her to get her to stop. The car ground to a halt, and Sam made a break for it. Swearing followed as the men got in each other's way, but they were most definitely pursuing her. Blood pumped too fast through Sam's veins, driving her to sprint faster than she had ever done before. What could she do? Why were men in suits running after her? Were they the police, after her because of the incident at the bar? Or friends of Pyro's, here to kill her because she'd turned on him?  
  
Thundering down a steep course of stairs, leaping the last three steps like a gazelle and turning back on herself down a dark alley, the sounds of her pursuers were all too clear. They were going to catch her! Tiring and desperate, she dropped her carefully preserved backpack, lost her heavy and expensive coat too, anything to lose a little weight. She ran easier after that, but running blind nonetheless. Her breath rasped in her chest, her feet wading through puddles made as much of rubbish as water. Concrete swamped the environment in dull grey as dawn threatened the smog above her, illuminating the sprawled graffiti that was little more than a coloured blur as she ran past.  
  
She knew she was slowing before they did, knew she'd have to try something else and be quick about it. She didn't know that they were slowing too, that a frightened fifteen year old was more than a match for two men more accustomed to sitting in comfortable offices. Reaching a fire escape ladder, Sam jumped to grab it, terror driving her to reach further and jump higher than she would have thought herself able. Her treacherous fingers brushed the metal, made it bend and shiver but she held on anyway. Muscles in her arms burned and bulged as she pulled herself up, away from the road. In the few seconds she had spare before the pursuing men made it around the corner, Sam was on the roof and away.  
  
"Stop, stop..." The man who had been the passenger told his associate with gasping breath. His hands on his knees he gulped air in like other men would gulp beer. Sheesh, and he'd once been on the university track team as well... New resolution, go to the gym a little more often. Standing straight again he loosened the knot of his tie nodded to his friend. "I'm ringing the Senator." The mobile was fortunately enough still in his trouser pocket, the number on fast-dial. Sure enough a familiar voice answered it.  
  
"Senator, we found her. She seems okay, but I think we spooked her and she's run." A pause, the car driver listened but couldn't make out what was being said on the other end of the line. "I know sir, but I've got one more trick up my sleeve."  
  
In an office quite a way away, the Senator in question pushed his chair back from the table resolutely and got to his feet.  
  
"Thank you, Matthew, do whatever you think is best. You're much more qualified for this than I am." Sam's father ran his hand back through his thinning hair and looked out the window desperately. "I can't tell you how much it mean to me that there are men in government who do not judge mutants, and yet do not tow the line with Kelly either..."  
  
"You can't categorise all of us with pro-mutant agendas as being the same, Senator. Its like saying all mutants are the same, or all humans." Matthew Cooper answered with wisdom beyond his years. Wisdom gained from a peculiar set of friends. "I'd love to talk in more depth to you about it, but not until we have your daughter safe again. Now if you don't mind Senator, I have to make another phone call."  
  
That call ended, a second fast-dial button was pressed as Matthew's driver looked on. There was only one man who could find a mutant no matter where they hid.  
  
"Good morning Professor, I'm sorry to have to wake you so early..." 


	5. 05

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: My brother, Knight of Avlee, told me the other day that I couldn't write an X-Men story without putting Blaze and Gambit in it. I've tried with this one, just coz I hate it when he's right, but I've failed. Never mind anyway, its like writing a story with nobody drinking alcohol in it (which again he's accused me of not being able to do!), its no fun without. So, sorry Knight of Avlee, but I'm not risking Blaze sulking at me in my head for the rest of ever if she didn't get some action! To the rest of you, enjoy!  
  
Scene 05  
  
Early morning sunlight splattered the rec. room as laughter filled the air. Bobby, returned briefly from his final year at university, sat enthroned on the sofa flanked on one side by Nightcrawler and on the other by the redheaded fire elemental Blaze. Ororo Munroe had a chair to herself, legs crossed and hands resting gracefully on her lap as she too joined in the laughter at Bobby's story.  
  
"...And then the lecturer gets all flustered, and he's tryin' to explain himself again, but we all just get up and walk out!"  
  
"Makes me glad I never taught you." Blaze, the Xavier School's languages teacher, smiled as Nightcrawler nodded in agreement.  
  
"This lecturer should count himself lucky." Storm quipped, "At least he didn't have to try and teach from text books that were iced shut."  
  
"Hey, that was an accident!" Bobby held up his hands in surrender as the black woman raised an eyebrow, smiling.  
  
"And the wolf-whistles every time I turned my back on you for a month?"  
  
"You should take that as a complement Cherie." Bobby's unexpected defender was Gambit, grinning slyly at Storm when she turned her gaze to where the Cajun was sat at a small table, deck of cards in his hand. "You know we'se all bin tempted..."  
  
"Are we playing here or what Gambit?" The mutant named Vixen cut in before Storm could think of a suitably blunt reply to put Gambit in his place. The blonde haired Ilehana Xavier leant back comfortably in her seat, meeting the Cajun's unique red-on-black eyes with a coy smile. Logan, who was sat at the same table as his fellow card players, shot her a sharp glance; did she have to make it so easy for the Cajun to hit on her? Her telepathic response was tinted with feminine laughter. **Have a sense of humour, Logan. It's just a game. **  
  
"You can play with Gambit all you want, Cherie." The Cajun replied true to form, dealing the cards out as he spoke. "All you have to do is ask...." He winked at her, and Ilehana grinned. Kneeling up and leaning on the back of the sofa, Blaze met Wolverine's eyes with a great deal of unexpected sympathy and shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Maybe one day he'll grow up." Remy's long-time sidekick offered, but she didn't sound hopeful as she rested her chin on her hands, flicking long curls out of her face.  
  
"I'd settle for him not cheatin' this round." Wolverine replied, putting his cigar back in his mouth and scooping his own cards up off the sticky table.  
  
"Implyin' I was cheatin' last round." Remy retorted with a smile.  
  
"Weren't you?" Kurt asked, intrigued.  
  
"Course he was." Blaze answered for her friend with a grimace. "Don't think he even knows how to play a card game without cheating." Gambit shook his head, but didn't disagree.  
  
"Gambit, Blaze?" Cyclops appeared at the door with a bluster of authority. He winced slightly as everyone in the rec. room turned to look at him at once. Had he grown an extra head or something? "The Professor wants to see you both right away."  
  
"What have we done this time?" Blaze groaned as she accepted Bobby's hand to stand up on the sofa seat, before stepping athletically over the back to land on the floor. "We weren't that noisy when we got back last night, were we?"  
  
"Oh no more than usual." Storm replied, "What was it you walked into this time Gambit, the side table?"  
  
"Door frame." Gambit admitted sourly, rubbing his forehead. "I swear this Belle spikes my drinks." He ducked slightly as Blaze clipped him round the head for implying she'd do such a thing to him before they followed Cyclops to meet the Professor. Only when they'd gone did Bobby turn to Storm.  
  
"I'm glad they're gettin' on again." He nodded towards the doorway, leaving no doubt who he was talking about. "Its too weird when they fight."  
  
"You ain't the only one kid." Logan muttered, reaching to pick up Gambit's discarded playing cards and wincing at the man's luck. "You think it's been bad from where you are, you should try livin' with 'em for a while. An' still Blaze ain't sayin' nothin' about what happened to her in the first place. It just ain't natural..."  
  
Professor Xavier was in the briefing room before them, squinting hard at a complex three-dimensional map on a large screen. He looked like he'd been awake half the night, and he had the hazy glint to his eye that all three X- Men recognised as a side effect to using Cerebro. It didn't take a great deal of intelligence to know that Xavier had a mission for them.  
  
"You have all thought right." The telepathic Xavier turned his wheelchair to greet his protégés with a smile. "I had a telephone call last night from a friend of yours Blaze, one Matthew Cooper. I don't know if I told you that whilst you were away, he took you up on your offer of a visit to the school. He may only as yet be a political aide, but he is becoming a powerful ally for our cause."  
  
"I'm glad." Blaze sounded genuinely impressed. "But why did he ring you?"  
  
"A girl he knows has gone missing, a mutant who has recently developed her powers. He asked me to locate her using Cerebro." Blaze's impressed smile increased a notch, knowing that Matthew must have come a long way into the Professor's trust to know about that machine. Next to her Gambit scowled as Scott looked on impassively. It was plain to Xavier that not all the X-Men thought they needed the assistance of politicians.  
  
"Have you found her?" Scott asked, to which Xavier nodded.  
  
"And I want the three of you to go retrieve her, bring her back to the mansion. She's very afraid, and she'd be safest here."  
  
"Why us?" Scott asked, blatantly meaning 'why them?' why Gambit and Blaze and not Storm or Kurt?  
  
"Because without the, shall we say, unique skills that Gambit and Blaze profess, I feel you will have a few difficulties in getting anywhere near the child." Xavier cautioned Cyclops patiently. At his words, Scott frowned heavily, but Gambit's eyes began to sparkle. This sounded like his kinda mission... 


	6. 06

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Enjoy!  
  
Scene 06  
  
"No, Gambit, look. That duct is too small, you just wont get through it." Blaze cautioned with a touch of excitement to her English accent. It had been too long since the ex-thieves had planned a break-in together. They were onboard the X-Jet, with Scott piloting and Blaze and Gambit pouring over the Professor's architectural plans of the building where the girl was hiding. It wasn't going to be easy; she'd crawled into the roof space and was laying low in a seemingly unassailable spot. If they hadn't had the world's most powerful psychic working for them, persuading the girl gently via Cerebro to tell him where she was, chances were they'd never find her.  
  
"Gambit hate it when you're right Chere." The Cajun grumbled, frowning over the plans.  
  
"You'd hate it even more if I hadn't spotted it and you got stuck." Blaze pointed out. "But I can get through there, and let you in that hatchway..."  
  
"Is working with you guys always this much fun?" Cyclops grumbled from his seat.  
  
"Work hard, play hard." Blaze shrugged. "We there yet?"  
  
"Um, yeah..." Scott flicked a couple of switches, setting the jet to hover. "You might wanna come look at this..."  
  
The sight that met them was of utter devastation. The ground below them was crumpled and split, buildings ripped in two from the foundations upwards. Fences, streetlights, even trees had fallen under some sort of onslaught that Scott could only think of attributing to some major military strike. Even as the X-Men watched, the truth became startlingly clear. Like a great tidal wave of earth, the soil and rocks began to vibrate, moving out from a single building in a ring like ripples over water. The whole world seemed to shake, even the jet was not unaffected as the air rushed past it disturbed and vibrating. Various red lights started to flash and beep as the plane lost altitude even with Scott fighting to stay in control. There was an audible sigh of relief in the cockpit as the bucking of the earth and air ceased.  
  
"What it 'bout li'l red lights that make everythin' so much worse?" Gambit asked as Scott switched off the final few warning sensors and brought the jet back to hover slightly higher than it had been before.  
  
**The girl has lost control of her powers. She's generating countless energy that is expressed by vibrations of anything she touches. ** The Professor's voice was strong in all their minds. **She's terrified for her life now like never before, and I'm worried she may be justified. The building around her appears to be becoming increasingly unstable. **  
  
"How long do we have before her next attack?" Scott asked the Professor aloud, knowing Xavier could hear him just fine.  
  
**I can't guarantee exactly how long, but she thinks it is about ten minutes from one attack to the next. Time it and make sure, but only once. After that, there is no more time. ** Xavier replied sternly, before leaving them to continue his conversations with the child.  
  
"Ten minutes..." Blaze muttered. "In and out? With a teenager who's in who knows what state and no promise she won't attack us too?"  
  
"Guess we gotta re-think our plans, Petite." Gambit acknowledged grimly. "How small you t'ink that duct be again?"  
  
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It was small. Not quite as small as Blaze had first feared, but small enough that it would be a very tight fit for the tall, muscular Cajun. Still, she'd let him decide, unless he thought she was trying to steal all the fun. Huh, some fun... But both their adrenaline was running now, and thief's' instincts were taking over. They could do this, the mystery girl couldn't afford for them to not succeed.  
  
""There no time to do anythin' else." Gambit muttered, as much to himself as to her, taking off his trademark trench coat and passing it to Blaze. "Go first, I follow. Gambit get stuck, go on alone."  
  
Blaze nodded, folded his coat around her arm and climbed in headfirst to the duct. Not too long after she could hear him behind her, but only just. Guess moving as stealthily as a thief was like riding a bike, you just don't forget. Head down, Blaze set off crawling at speed.  
  
Blaze's photographic memory remembered plans she'd barely studied, leading them both with little difficulty to the spot above where Samantha had told Xavier she was. The entrance to the den Sam had used had collapsed when the first spasm of her power ran through her and into the ground. Now she was exhausted and trapped, fear subsiding as she could no longer sustain the energy for it. Xavier felt her sliding into defeat and tried every ounce of psychology he knew to keep her alert. He heard as she did the moment when Gambit took over the show, popping screws from the side of the air-duct with a fraction of his mutant power. Xavier felt Sam ready her power, preparing to defend herself from Gambit and Blaze as they dropped one after the other to the floor below.  
  
**No! ** Xavier admonished her, but he needn't have worried. Even as Sam lifted her head, she fell forward onto her knees, completely spent. Dusty, battered and bruised, her expensive clothes were ripped, her make-up ruined by tears. Maybe these strangers would just kill her, get it over with...  
  
"Hey," Sam hadn't even realised she was crying again until the young woman in black, seemingly unafraid, took the teenager's hands in her warm gloved ones. "Its okay, there's no need to cry. You're going to be alright, your safe."  
  
"I'm not crying." Sam snapped back, recovering herself slightly but refusing to wipe away the evidence for fear of drawing attention to it.  
  
"'Course not Petite." Gambit chimed in amicably. "It just a li'l dusty in here. How 'bout we take you to get some fresh air instead, eh?"  
  
"Don't I know you?" The girl asked suddenly as Blaze and Gambit both looked a little shocked. It wasn't quite the response they'd been expecting. Glancing once at her friend, Blaze looked back hard at the girl they'd come to rescue. The fire elemental never forgot a face.  
  
"Samantha Hawley." The name jumped out at the redhead with little difficulty. "Yes, you have met us before. Just once, at the Governor's ball in..."  
  
"New York." Sam finished. "You're Gambit, an X-Man. Pyro told me about you."  
  
"It nice he remember me." Gambit drawled. "But maybe this conversation can wait? The buildin' not gonna stand up much longer, even without you attackin' it."  
  
"How?" Sam replied, "I can't get up to that duct you came in through."  
  
"Trust me," Blaze answered, smiling wickedly. "Getting out is the fun part." 


	7. 07

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: Enjoy!  
  
Scene 07  
  
Even as Gambit re-donned his infamous coat and warned Sam to guard her eyes, Blaze was putting her fingers to the cave-in that blocked their way. It was thick, tough enough that none of Sam's subsequent attacks had loosened the tumbled rubble at all. She stepped back again as Gambit came to join her, a card already in his fingers.  
  
"You set Laura?" He asked, the use of her birth-name causing her to pull her face at her friend in response. It might not hold the same sting it did when she first admitted it to him about three years ago, but the girl who's burst of new mutant power had killed her own family could never accept that name casually again. Still she steeled herself to reply "Always Remy."  
  
The fireball was dancing on the end of her glove even as he charged his card. The two attacks struck the rubble simultaneously, causing a landslide of dust and rubble, and a hole just big enough for a stubborn Cajun to wriggle through. "You comin'?" was all he called back as the structure groaned and creaked around them. The girls didn't need asking twice, Gambit grabbing Sam's arm and propelling her towards the nearest exit even as her tired feet gave up and she crumpled under her own weight. "Don't worry Cherie," He spoke evenly, trying not to betray his worry at the increasing amount of dust falling from walls and ceiling. "Gambit carry you." And so he scooped her up and started to run, trusting Blaze that she would keep close behind.  
  
They had nearly made it; found their way to a partially open exit through which daylight shone like hope through a ruin. Gambit didn't bother reaching for a card, putting bared fingers straight onto the rubble and leaping backwards with Sam still in his arms as it exploded in a million directions. Briefly, true daylight found them, warm and inviting. Then disaster struck.  
  
The building, creaking and groaning and raining cement dropped on them like nothing on earth. Gambit ducked and rolled instinctively, pushing Sam in front of him towards where he trusted the door to be. Some part of him knew before he'd even had chance to think it that they weren't going to make it. Then like a red dawn something changed. A familiar blast shot through the rubble, falling bricks were blown off course, a way made clear through the chaos and carnage. Sheltering the teenager with his own body, Gambit pushed her towards it; aware as she was not that this new devilry was a friendly force. Cyclops grabbed both of them by the scruff of their necks and hauled them clear with inhuman strength.  
  
"Blaze!" Gambit's words were choked on dust, but his panic for his best friend was clearer than air.  
  
"Get the kid out of here!" Cyclops would not take no for an answer. "I'll get Blaze." Without looking back he dived into the melee, trigger finger clicking his visor again and again as he fought his way through the tumbling building. No one was getting left behind! Not again!  
  
He'd no idea how he found her. Perhaps the Professor had led him to the spot without having time to relay proper instructions. Perhaps it was just the 'thief's luck' that Logan so frequently cursed at cards. Red laser blasts cut her loose of the fallen rubble, strong arms wrenched her free despite her protests of pain. Let her blame him later, Scott would just be glad that she could.  
  
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"Can you not do anything right? When I get my hands on you, you will understand the real meaning of failure! I cannot believe that still you can show such incompetence as to..." Pyro stopped listening, holding the hospital phone away from his ear with his good arm as Mystique continued to rant and rave at the other end. He just didn't care right now. Let her do her worst; he just did not care. He didn't even have to go back to her or the brotherhood. They hadn't come for him, at least not in the time it had taken for some humans to find him by the side of the road, take him in and drive him to hospital. He supposed he should be grateful to them, but he couldn't care enough about that either.  
  
The growl behind him was Sabretooth. Had the lackey actually been worried about not being able to find John? Not for Pyro's sake for sure, but a twitch of the big mutant's head towards the door indicated it was time they got going. Pyro put the phone down with a resounding click and followed Sabretooth back out to his car.  
  
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"How you doin' Petite?" Gambit asked when finally he was allowed into the infirmary to see Blaze.  
  
"It itches more than it hurts." Blaze replied with a grumble, indicating to the expansive cast on her broken leg. Broken in multiple places, and as battered and bruised as the rest of her, she'd been confined to the infirmary for the duration, no matter how much she complained about it. "But I can't get up, and I can't do anything interesting, and Dr Ilehana is * far * to busy to bother talking to this here invalid."  
  
"You are by far the worst patient I have ever had in this infirmary." Ilehana commented from across the room, before exchanging grins with Blaze. They both knew the Professor's daughter didn't mean it. After all, she'd had Gambit as a patient here too often too.  
  
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"We have an unfortunate number of runaways at this school, Samantha." Professor Xavier told the girl sadly as he led her on a tour of the school's grounds. She'd never met anyone like this man; even his X-Men were only shadows in comparison to the commitment and steely drive of Xavier. It made Sam very glad that his cause was so well thought through, his motives so just. She could only imagine the damage he could do if he sided with Pyro's kind. She could see it all clearly now, as Xavier had shared his thoughts and feelings openly on the subject. There was a battle for power running between mutants like Pyro and humans like her father. It was up to Xavier and those like him to prevent these battles from happening, and to strive always for a future where mutants and humans could live together. She'd never thought of it like that, never dreamt that could be possible but simply accepted that mutants and humans were to different to co-exist. Xavier had shown her that simply wasn't true. It was a jolt to Sam when Xavier spoke again.  
  
"For most of them, getting in touch with parents who do not understand what they have become is too painful, too impossible right now. I know you think that you are one of them, but you need to understand something. Your father knew you were a mutant before you ran away. Like any good tactician he had made it his business to learn about mutants, so as to more effectively campaign against them."  
  
"So you're telling me that he hates me now as much as he hates all the rest of mutant-kind?" Sam replied in a sulky voice as they rounded the corner of the mansion and looked out on children playing. So many mutants, did anyone even know how many there were?  
  
"Exactly the opposite." Xavier counselled sagely. "Though it pained him at first, he came to realise something. He is your father, and no matter what you do, who you bring home, what you are, he will always love you."  
  
Sam issued something like an indignant snort. That didn't sound much like her father. If that were true, he'd be at home more often. He'd ask her for opinions on his girlfriends, not some bunch of political advisors. He'd stop her from doing all the bad things she did himself, not leave it for others to mop up.  
  
"I sense your disbelief, Sam. In some ways I understand it, but as a father myself I can only bemoan the biggest weakness of fathers everywhere. We are only human, and we make mistakes. If it hadn't been for your father putting his career on the line, going against a powerful force that was trying to blackmail him and asking a virtual stranger for help, I would never have found you. I needn't tell you what would have happened if I had not, if my X-Men had not come and rescued you."  
  
He didn't need to at all, images of Blaze's crumpled and near unconscious body in Cyclops' arms as he ran up the ramp of the jet were all too fresh in Sam's mind. The redhead would be okay, but if Cyclops had not been there...  
  
"So what are you saying, that I should give him another chance?" Sam replied with a question of her own.  
  
"Only you can decide that Samantha. And only when you are ready." 


	8. 08

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men; I do own all OCs especially Samantha and Blaze. Ilehana Xavier belongs exclusively to Corrinth and is used with permission.  
  
A/N: In regards to the last chapter, I never thought in a million years that Scott would be the hero in one of MY stories! Oh well, guess the plot bunnies have their own ideas sometimes... Anyway, last chapter, so enjoy!  
  
Scene 08  
  
"You know me. I have stood here a thousand times and made speeches about freedom and taxes, petrol prices and war. I have told you what I believe. Now I am going to tell you something else entirely. Not a belief, a truth."  
  
With a deep breath Senator Hawley turned and beckoned his accompanying party forward. His new aide, the promoted Matthew Cooper stood smart and to attention to his left, crisp grey suit matching the Senator's neatly. He handed his new boss a bland portfolio folder, then took a step back slightly so as not to intrude. To Hawley's right a smart young woman dressed in a dark blue skirt suit, hair neat and face delicately made up came and laid a hand on his arm, smiling.  
  
"This is my daughter." Hawley stated proudly, looking not at the gathered media but right back at his child, his little girl with eyes so hauntingly like her mother's. "And she is a mutant."  
  
There was a moment of absolute silence right across America. Then, mindless that the cameras were still rolling, the new crews joined the general populous in exclaiming, chattering, wondering what on earth this could mean? Sam laughed at their reaction as Hawley and Matthew smiled. A waved hand signal from Matthew finished the broadcast; let the voters stew on that for a while. Hawley himself distributed the written statements on his new agenda; one where he hoped mutants and humans could work together for a compromise to the mutant question. Nothing had ever been done like this before in politics, but never before had a certain Charles Xavier been consulted so heavily on a political document's content. He was there of course, with Scott Summers and Ororo Munroe at the back of the room. Sam led the way to them through the crowd of people, tugging her father along by the arm.  
  
"This is a brave thing you've done, Senator." Xavier began. "I can only hope you haven't exposed yourselves to too much danger. This is not going to be easy."  
  
"Changing people's way of thinking never is, Professor." Hawley smiled, correcting himself. "At least, not for most people. Tell me, did you ever think of going into politics yourself?"  
  
Hawley and Xavier began to leave then, in animated conversation about the pros and cons of political aspirations. Matthew extended his arm graciously allowing Storm to precede him.  
  
"How's Blaze recovering?" He asked almost shyly. "Did she get the flowers I sent?"  
  
"She did." Ororo smiled knowing that Blaze had been impressed, but openly admitted that she'd rather people gave her books than flowers. Ilehana had had to undertake a re-arrangement of the infirmary to fit in yet another bunch whilst Remy had tactlessly pointed out that the bouquet he'd got her was much bigger than Matthew's. "She says thank you, and she hopes you'll pop in and see her soon. She finds staying still more than a little boring."  
  
"Thank you, I'll try."  
  
Behind them, Sam and Scott brought up the rear. In a mocking imitation of Matthew's manners, Scott indicated that Sam pass in front of him. Sam just laughed, and contented herself with swinging on her teacher's arm instead. Boarding school was turning out to suit her just fine, at least as far as the Xavier School could be categorised as anything like any other school anywhere.  
  
"I've found my name." She began as a way of making conversation.  
  
"Yeah?" Scott replied, looking down on his student from behind his glasses. "What is it? Trouble, Pain-in-the-Rear... oh, wait, I got it! Bone-crusher right?"  
  
"Oh please!" Sam laughed, "Now I know how you got such a dumb name as Cyclops!"  
  
"What's wrong with Cyclops?" Scott asked, mock offended, but Sam refused to answer. Shaking his head he tried again. "What's your name?"  
  
"Shockwave." She smiled. "Though I think it suits my Dad quite well too. Nothing I've caused with my powers will have the same huge shockwave as what he's just done. You know, a girl could almost be proud of him!"  
  
**The End ** 


End file.
